WHAT:
Permanent Radio Station
WHERE:
Royal Needles Hotel, Totland Bay, Isle of Wight, PO39 0JD, UK
LOCATION:
WHEN:
Built in December 1897
WHO:
Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi
DETAILS:
In early December 1897, to investigate and experiment with transmission to ships at sea, Guglielmo Marconi set up his revolutionary wireless equipment in the Royal Needles Hotel, above Alum Bay, and sent the very first wireless transmission.
A huge 168 feet high mast was set up outside the hotel and over the next couple of years Marconi conducted ever more complex experiments with wireless transmissions. In 1898 messages were received from Marconi at Queen Victoria’s Osborne House and on the royal yacht.
Little now remains of Marconi’s experimental stations, as the hotel and masts have long since gone. However, a monument to him stands on the cliff top within Needles Park and information lecterns provide a detailed history of radio, Marconi and the role played by Alum Bay.
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